1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an image processing apparatus used in an image forming apparatus such as a digital copier, etc., and more particularly, the present invention is directed to an image processing apparatus which includes a magnification unit for magnifying characters on an original document.
2. Discussion of the Background
In an image processing apparatus, FIG. 5 is a drawing of an original document used in a background image processing apparatus. FIG. 15 is a drawing showing a copied document formed from the original document of FIG. 5 with a magnification process in the background image processing apparatus.
As illustrated in FIG. 5, it is often difficult to read small characters on an original document. To make the small characters more readable, an operator may wish to enlarge the document by performing a magnification process. In the magnification process, an operator sets a magnification ratio for the small characters on the original document, such as for an original document size B5.fwdarw.A4 (115%), A4.fwdarw.A3 (141%), and a size of a recording paper such as A4, A3 in an image processing apparatus.
Characters on a copied document are enlarged by performing the magnification process in the image processing apparatus from an upper left edge portion (Xo, Yo) on the original document in the directions for scanning X and sub-scanning Y. It then becomes easy to read large characters on the copied document.
However, the above-mentioned image processing apparatus has a drawback in that a size of the original document is not the same as that of the copied document. It may then become inconvenient to have such documents with different sizes.